There's a hell of a lot missing from the intro regarding post 2-Tone ska. From memory...
Skank Records/Unicorn Records were around in the mid to late 80s and at the forefront of the UK post 2-Tone sound. Bands such as The Deltones, The Riffs, Hot Knives, The Trojans, Arthur Kays Originals, The Volecanoes and many more surfaced through there. The European ska scene started around now, primarily in Germany, but later becoming strong in France, Spain, Portugal and noteably in Italy. The European sound is probably the 'true' root of the 3rd wave sound as it became known.
Then the American scene got underway, led by British ex-patriot 'Bucket' who formed a little band called The Toasters in New York who rapidly became the leading light of the fledgling US scene, founding the Moon Ska record label. Other labels came through about this time, main contenders being Asian Man and Jump Up Records (In my opinion anyway...).
Also around this time the Japanese scene started to pick up, the main players at this time being The Ska Flames who avoided the 3rd wave sound and nodded more towards the Jamaican origins.
Also around this time was the brief cross breed of ska with the house movement, giving us AcidSka (or Skacid as it was occasionally known) which put samples and loops over the off beat.
Then it starts to get more complicated as the sound went worldwide, with more and more variations added as the 90s and early 00s went on.... ska punk, skacore, metal ska and more. Literally hundreds of bands emerged during this perios, many releasing only one or two tracks, others (such as Less Than Jake, Rancid, Against All Authority, The Slackers and many more) releasing a series of albums, and many of whom are still with us today.
Today there is hardly a country in the world that doesn't have its share of ska bands, from South America, the old Communist Bloc (Especially in Poland for some reason), Japan, North Africa... I've heard of bands of note in the Indian area, but in honesty I've not tracked anything down yet. But I will....
The current trend seems to be a return to the roots of the sound. Bands like The Slackers and The Aggrolites in the US, Simmertones in the UK, and a whole swathe of bands out of the Iberian peninsular are kicking out what can best be termed 'revived skinhead reggae' more than ska, but all are worth a listen, no matter what your interest in the music.
Hope this helps....
Nik
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